Dismantling the ‘All-Boys Club’ A Narrative of Contradictions Women Experience in PhD Mathematics Programs: A Freirean Approach

Abstract

Gender issues in mathematics education received fairly attention several decades ago, mainly because women and men performed differently, with men usually outperforming women. The research on such phenomena originated a series of studies on the so-called 'achievement-gap.' After many years of research on the achievement gap, such a gap has shown to have disappeared. However, recent studies have shown that there are fewer women who choose STEM-related fields than male peers. Suppose women are not choosing mathematics, but concomitantly research has pointed out that women and men have similar mathematics capabilities; why are women disproportionately part of the field? Since current statistics show that 90-95% of doctoral mathematics students are men, this study examines why school mathematics is still a male-dominant field. The data presented in this paper was collected using life-story interviews. Freirean methodology was used to analyze the contradictions in women's PhD student experiences. The findings point to contradictions in women's experiences in mathematics regarding success and challenges women have faced in mathematics and are discussed in depth in the findings and discussion sections of this paper.

Contemporary Debates on Equity in STEM Education: Takeaways From a Doctoral Seminar in Equity in STEM Education

“…Despite years of research on the inequity in STEM education and careers, certain groups continue to be underrepresented (Ataide Pinheiro, 2021;National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, 2021;Neto & Ataide Pinheiro, 2021). Students are often assigned to these groups using single identity qualifiers (e.g., gender, race, low socioeconomic status [SES]).…”

“…In addition, the field has also begun to recognize gender as a social construct rather than as biological sex (Butler, 1990(Butler, , 1999Damarin & Erchick, 2010;Esmonde, 2011;Rubel, 2016). This is important because, traditionally, gender research has focused solely on women (see Ataide Pinheiro, 2021). However, scholars have contended that gender research should also focus on men, the differences found within male/female gaps (Buck et al, 2020), and be expanded to include LGBTQ+ individuals (Ataide Pinheiro, 2022;Scantlebury & Baker, 2007).…”